Afghan National Army

The Afghan National Army (ANA) is the land warfare branch of the Afghanistan armed forces. The army traced its roots to Hotak dynasty in 1709, when Ahmad Shah Durrani established an independent Afghan in Kandahar. The army was reorganized in 1880 during Abdur Rahman Khan's reign. From the 1960s to the 1990s, the army was equipped by the Soviet Union. After the resignation of President Mohammed Najibullah resigned in 1992, the Islamic State of Afghanistan took over the army. The government was driven from power in 1996 by the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan regime, which lasted until NATO invaded the country in 2001. On 1 December 2002, the ANA took on its current form when Hamid Karzai's government took power,  and the ANA became a modern military force. By 2014, the ANA was responsible for the defense of most of Afghanistan from the Taliban, with NATO troops leaving security operations to the ANA as they withdrew from the country. In 2017, the ANA had 175,000 soldiers.